Chapter VI.

To those who object that according to the words of Amos
the Spirit is created, the answer is made that the word is there
understood of the wind, which is often created, which cannot be said of
the Holy Spirit, since He is eternal, and cannot be dissolved in death,
or by an heretical absorption into the Father. But if they
pertinaciously contend that this passage was written of the Holy
Spirit, St. Ambrose points out that recourse must be had to a spiritual
Interpretation, for Christ by His coming established the thunder, that
is, the force of the divine utterances, and by Spirit is signified the
human soul as also the flesh assumed by Christ. And since this
was created by each Person of the Trinity, it is thence argued that the
Spirit, Who has before been affirmed to be the Creator of all things,
was the Author of the Incarnation of the Lord.

48. Nor does it
escape my notice that heretics have been wont to object that the Holy
Spirit appears to be a creature, because many of them use as an
argument for establishing their impiety that passage of Amos, where he
spoke of the blowing of the wind, as the words of the prophet made
clear. For you read thus: “Behold, I am He that
establish the thunders, and create the wind [spirit],10651065Spiritus is
Latin for wind and spirit. See note on § 63 of this
book. and declare unto man his Christ, that make
light and mist, and ascend upon high places, the Lord God Almighty is
His Name.”10661066Amos iv. 13.

49. If they make an argument of this, that
he said “spirit” was created, Esdras taught us that spirit
is created, saying in the fourth book: “And upon the second
day Thou madest the spirit of the firmament,”106710672 [4] Esdras
vi. 41. yet, that we may keep to our point, is it
not evident that in what Amos said the order of the passage shows that
the prophet was speaking of the creation of this world?

50. He begins as follows: “I am the
Lord that establish the thunders and create the wind
[spirit].” The order of the words
121itself teaches us; for if he had wished
to speak of the Holy Spirit, he would certainly not have put the
thunders in the first place. For thunder is not more ancient than
the Holy Spirit; though they be ungodly, they still dare not say
that. And then when we see what follows concerning light and
mist, is it not plain that what is said is to be understood of the
creation of this world? For we know by every-day experience, that
when we have storms on this earth, thunders come first, blasts of wind
follow on, the sky grows black with mists, and light shines again out
of the darkness. For the blasts of wind are also called
“spirits,” as it is written: “Fire and
brimstone and the spirit of storm.”10681068Ps. xi. [x.]
6.

51. And that you might know that he called
this “spirit,” he says: “establishing thunders
and creating the wind [spirit].” For these are often
created, when they take place. But the Holy Spirit is eternal,
and if any one dares to call Him a creature, still he cannot say that
He is daily created like the blast of the wind. Then, again,
Wisdom herself, speaking after the mystery of the assumed Body,
says: “The Lord created Me.”10691069Prov. viii. 22. Although prophesying of things to
come, yet, because the coming of the Lord was predestined, it is not
said “creates” but “created Me;” that men might
believe that the Body of Jesus was begotten of the Virgin Mary, not
often, but once only.

52. And so, as to that which the prophet declared
as it were of the daily working of God in the thunder and the creation
of the wind, it would be impious to understand any such thing of the
Holy Spirit, Whom the ungodly themselves cannot deny to exist from
before the world. Whence with pious asseveration we testify that
He always exists, and abides ever. For neither can He Who before
the world was moving upon the waters begin to be visible after the
world’s creation; or else it would be allowable to suppose that
there are many Holy Spirits, Who come into being by as it were a daily
production. Far be it from any one to pollute himself with such
impiety as to say that the Holy Spirit is frequently or ever
created. For I do not understand why He should be frequently
created; unless perchance they believe that He dies frequently and so
is frequently created. But how can the Spirit of life die?
If, then, He cannot die, there is no reason why He should be often
created.

53. But they who think otherwise fall into
this sacrilege, that they do not distinguish the Holy Spirit; who think
that the Word Which was sent forth returns to the Father, and the
Spirit Which was sent forth is reabsorbed into God, so that there
should be a reabsorption10701070 St. Ambrose
would seem to be alluding to a certain party amongst the Sabellians,
who, to avoid the charge of being Patripassians, maintained that Christ
before His Incarnation was one with the Father, from Whom He then
emanated, in Whom after His Passion He was again reabsorbed. Cf.
De Fide, V. 162. and a kind of
alternation of one changing himself into various forms; whereas the
distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always abiding and
unchangeable, preserves the Unity of its power.

54. But if any one thinks that the word of
the prophet is to be explained with reference to the Holy Spirit,
because it is said, “declaring unto men His
Christ,”10711071Amos iv. 13. he will explain it
more easily of the Lord’s Incarnation. For if it troubles
you that he said Spirit, and therefore you think that this cannot well
be explained of the mystery of the taking of human nature, read on in
the Scriptures and you will find that all agrees most excellently with
Christ, of Whom it is thoroughly fitting to think that He established
the thunders by His coming, that is, the force and sound of the
heavenly Scriptures, by the thunder, as it were, of which our minds are
struck with astonishment, so that we learn to be afraid, and pay
respect to the heavenly oracles.

55. Lastly, in the Gospel the brothers of
the Lord were called Sons of Thunder; and when the voice was uttered of
the Father, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it
again,”10721072 S. John xii. 28. the Jews said
that it thundered on Him. For although they could not receive the
grace of the truth, yet they confessed unwillingly, and in their
ignorance were speaking mysteries, so that there resulted a great
testimony of the Father to the Son. And in the Book of Job, too,
the Scripture says: “And who knows when He will make the
power of His thunder?”10731073Job xxvi. 14 [LXX.]. Certainly
if these words pertained to the thunders of the heavens, he would have
said that their force was already made, not about to be
made.

56. Therefore he referred the thunders to
the words of the Lord, the sound of which went out into all the earth,
and we understand the word “spirit” in this place of the
soul, which He took endowed with reason and perfect;10741074 It has been
generally held that our Lord’s Soul was from the first endowed
with all the fulness of which a human soul is capable, having, for
instance, perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and to
come: the only limit being that a finite nature cannot possess
the infinite attributes of the Godhead. for Scripture often designates
122the soul of man by the word
spirit, as you read: “Who creates the spirit of man within
him.”10751075Zech. xii. 1. So, too, the
Lord signified His Soul by the word Spirit, when He said:
“Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.”10761076 S. Luke xxiii. 46.

57. And that you might know that he spoke of
the coming down of Jesus, he added that He declared His Christ to men,
for in His baptism He declared Him, saying: “Thou art My
beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”10771077 S. Matt. iii. 17. He declared Him on the mount,
saying: “This is My beloved Son, hear ye
Him.”10781078 S. Mark ix. 7. He
declared Him in His Passion, when the sun hid itself, and sea and earth
trembled. He declared Him in the Centurion, who said:
“Truly this was the Son of God.”10791079 S. Mark xv. 39.

58. We ought, then, to take this whole passage
either to be simply to be understood of that state in which we here
live and breathe, or of the mystery of the Lord’s Body; for if
here it had been stated that the Holy Spirit was created, undoubtedly
Scripture would elsewhere have declared the same, as we often read of
the Son of God, Who according to the flesh was both made and
created.

59. But it is fitting that we should
consider His Majesty in the very fact of His taking flesh for us, that
we may see His divine power in the very taking of the Body. For
as we read that the Father created the mystery of the Lord’s
Incarnation, the Spirit too created it; and so too we read that Christ
Himself created His own Body. For the Father created it, as it is
written: “The Lord created Me,”10801080Prov. viii. 12. and in another place, “God sent His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”10811081Gal. iv. 4. And the Spirit created the whole
mystery, according to that which we read, for “Mary was found
with child of the Holy Spirit.”10821082 S. Matt. i. 18.

60. You find, then, that the Father created
and the Spirit created; learn, too, that the Son of God also created,
when Solomon says: “Wisdom hath made herself a
house.”10831083Prov. ix. 1. How,
then, can the Holy Spirit Who created the mystery of the Lord’s
Incarnation, which is above all created things, be Himself a
creature?

61. As we have shown above10841084 Ch. V. generally that the Holy Spirit is our
Creator according to the flesh in the outer man, let us now show that
He is our Creator also according to the mystery of grace. And as
the Father creates, so too does the Son create, and so too the Holy
Spirit creates, as we read in the words of Paul: “For it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any one should boast. For we
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in good
works.”10851085Eph. ii. 8 ff.

1065Spiritus is
Latin for wind and spirit. See note on § 63 of this
book.

1070 St. Ambrose
would seem to be alluding to a certain party amongst the Sabellians,
who, to avoid the charge of being Patripassians, maintained that Christ
before His Incarnation was one with the Father, from Whom He then
emanated, in Whom after His Passion He was again reabsorbed. Cf.
De Fide, V. 162.

1074 It has been
generally held that our Lord’s Soul was from the first endowed
with all the fulness of which a human soul is capable, having, for
instance, perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and to
come: the only limit being that a finite nature cannot possess
the infinite attributes of the Godhead.